Alarm or security boxes have long been used to house personal items or elements of an alarm system such as speakers and electrical components. Many of the existing security boxes have a hinged front plate which, when unlocked, opens to allow access to the interior portion of the box. Unfortunately, by their very nature, security boxes are often placed in confined spaces such as in corners between adjoining walls or adjacent other obstructions which limits the ability of the hinged plate to swing fully open. Consequently, access to the components contained within the security box may be obstructed making installation, replacement and/or repair of the components difficult.
Security boxes have traditionally been mounted to an mounting surface by conventional fasteners such as rivets, screws or bolts. In addition, the hinged panel has been mounted to the body of the security box by screws or bolts. These fasteners are both difficult to install and do little to prevent unauthorized access to the components housed within the box. Furthermore, by using a number of screws to hold the mounting panel and the cover together increases the likelihood that a screw will be dropped and lost during installation, repair and/or during routine maintenance.
To resist tampering, security boxes have typically relied on modifying the screws which secure the hinged front plate to the body of the box. Such modifications include providing uniquely shaped heads which can only be inserted and removed by use of a special tool. Security boxes have in the past also been provided with a variety of locking mechanisms ranging from key locks integrally formed within the security box to the addition of heavy gauge padlocks. In addition, security boxes have also used plunger-type tamper switches. Such plunger-type tamper switches are however only capable of detecting actual unauthorized access to the box, but are unable to detect unauthorized attempts to gain access to the components contained within the box. Consequently, the plunger-type switch only detects the damage after it has occurred but does not warn or deter attempts at unauthorized access as it is occurring to minimize the potential risk of successful access and minimize the potential damage and/or loss of the items housed within the box.
These tamper resistance efforts have focused primarily on making it mechanically more difficult to gain access to the contents of the security box through the use of special fasteners and by making the box from stronger materials. Unfortunately, such approaches to constructing security boxes have made authorized access for repair, replacement and routine maintenance of components contained within the security box more difficult and often more expensive through the requirement of special tools.